The Belgian practice and attitudes towards introducing genomics in clinical oncology

For most people, being in good health represents the most important factor to wellbeing. While environmental elements such as physical, chemical, biological, social and psychosocial factors in the environment are key for a person’s wellbeing, also the genome of the individual and its interaction with the environment play an important role. In this paper, we will focus on attitudes towards genomics in the field of personalised medicine in oncology. We will document opinions encountered by patients and citizens on sharing health-related information for various purposes (e.g., research, cost-effectiveness, patient support) aiming to maximise the benefits for cancer patients. We will discuss ethical and legal considerations to be taken into account at the Belgian level to provide a secure, transparent framework for the use of genomics in the healthcare system.